Georgia Straight
for January 1994, Article 3

It is said that the mark of a civilized country is how it treats the least advantaged of its citizens. Is it not also fair to add this - that a truly civilized country doesn't treat anyone shabbily, not even the well-to-do?

If everyone, even the well off, are equal before the law, consider the screwing just given Jack Diamond, Order of Canada, Order of B.C., and a Polish-Jewish immigrant who made good. The NDP Government has treated him as badly as his native land might have during it's worst moments.

Mr Diamond, and his partners, the Randall family, operating as the B.C. Jockey Club, have been synonymous with horse racing since time immemorial. Until they were legislated out of business, they ran the track at Ex Park.

The story is a long and sad one but it really started when, about 7 years ago, then Socred Attorney-general Brian Smith opined that Vancouver could use a one mile racetrack instead of the 5/8 mile oval Ex Park provided, which could well become "Santa Anita north".

Never mind that Santa Anita draws on 5 times the population - a Provincial commission was set up to examine the possibilities of such an adventure.

Never has the sky been so full of pie - or perhaps it was horse buns. To make a long story short, the preferred location for this new horse racing heaven was to be on the Delta Bog and would be paid for by the developers called Western Delta. No disrespect to them, but this notion could only fly as part of a real estate development. A new one mile facility would cost a minimum of $100 million and no less an authority than Jim Keeling, who runs the Cloverdale Raceway for standardbreds, made it clear that there was no way it could pay. (It should be noted that if a one mile track were built, Mr Keeling probably would inherit Ex Park so his opinion, being against his interest, carries even more weight.)

The owners and breeders had stars in their eyes. I mean WOW! a new one mile track with box seats for all in an airconditioned clubhouse watching the world's best horses - how could it get any better than that! Except none of them - not even the wealthy ones like Herb Doman and Russell Bennett - were prepared to pony up a dime of their own dough. And, for many reasons, not even a one mile track would bring better horses, and they knew it.

In fairness, when the NDP took office in 1991 the entire scene was a hell of a mess. They rightly rejected all the new proposals for it was clear to them - as it had been to Jack Diamond and Jim Keeling and anyone else who knew anything about running a racetrack - that a one mile track, especially where there was no public transit, would not work. Besides, one mile tracks were dying all over. Indeed, horse racing is generally in trouble because of new competition for the gambling buck, not least from government run lotteries. And, the new minister, quite properly, didn't want to see a bad gamble kill an entire industry.

Meanwhile, Jack Diamond was running Ex Park under lease from the City. He was damned no matter what he did. If he put big bucks into improvement, and his lease wasn't renewed (and the NDP made it clear it wouldn't be) it was money down the drain. If he chose not to (the election he made) he would be accused of not "putting a nickel back into the facility." Which is what happened. And this "catch 22" got Mr Diamond into terminal trouble, as the owners then bitched to the government about the condition of the Track.

The NDP had a problem - what to do. The simplest solution was to screw the least popular of all the players so it legislated the B.C. Jockey Club out of business and created a new political entity to take over Ex Park. Even though Jack Diamond had been a good and faithful tenant at the PNE for 40 years, the NDP tossed him out of his lease and put their new NDP appointed and government financed group in.

At first the government balked at even paying the Jockey Club a nickel in compensation, but seeing that they were over a barrel, paid them off what to them seemed to be a fire sale price. Even if it had been a fair figure, the fact is the NDP grabbed the racetrack against the owners' will.

There is an irony here. The site of Ex park is where the government in 1942 interned Japanese Canadians, expropriated all their property then sent them packing to Internment camps. I don't imagine that irony was lost on Jack Diamond, a Polish Jewish refugee who'd made good and was just not popular in the right places or with the right people.